Two days later, the men from Al'vae - Bret and Leo - started unfastening the chains from around the post.
"Where are you taking me?" Rapunzel asked. She'd barely been given anything to eat or drink since her miscarriage, and her voice was weak.
"The stairwell. Priscilla wants you to stay there." Bret pulled away the tile, and Rapunzel stared down at the dank stairwell. She'd only been down it once, and she'd hated it.
"Are there rats?" Rapunzel asked suddenly. She'd overheard Leo complain loudly about the rat situation in the tower, and he apparently had a strong case of musophobia. He also happened to be the one holding her chains right now.

She felt the chains ease up a little, and then she jerked forward with all of her strength. She still had her hands behind her back and the chains were pulling behind her unbearably, but then she heard the chains clatter to the floor and it invigorated her. She dashed for the window, turning her back to it and trying to unfasten the latch that way.
" 'Ey! Get back 'ere!" Bret barked. Rapunzel didn't know how she would get out of the tower from the window, but she'd figure it out. Eugene had made it up with arrows, so certainly there were ledges where she could grip on with her fingertips.
She pushed the window open, but before she could swing over the sill, Bret overpowered her, nearly shoving her out of the window in his rage. Yanking her over to the side and gesturing for Leo to shut the window, he growled. Shoving her up against the wall and then shaking her shoulders hard enough to make her head spin - and then slamming her head up against the stone wall for good measure -, he narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth like some dreadful animal. "Next time you pull something like that, you'll be dead an' so will everyone else in your bloody worthless family!"
"Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" Rapunzel snapped.
He sneered a moment, but then let go of one shoulder so he could caress her cheek with a clammy, rough hand. "We've too many plans for you to end the fun quite yet. Priscilla's got quite an agenda."
Rapunzel twisted her face away, chills running through her entire body, and then she felt a sharp pain in her same cheek. He'd cut her because she'd looked away from him. Fighting against every instinct in her body, she kept her face away so he couldn't see the tears filling her eyes. Didn't give him the satisfaction. He stepped away and pushed her forward, dragging her down into the stairwell, where she was chained to another post.

A few hours later - it could have been hours, days, or mere minutes; she didn't know and she couldn't see a blame thing -, Priscilla gave her a visit. "Heard you tried to get away," she sat down on the stair above Rapunzel.
"What use was it?"
"It was still a breach of contract," she smiled cruelly.
Rapunzel's eyes widened in the darkness and she turned to Priscilla's voice. "You're not..."
"I'm sending the Stabbingtons. They know Eugene better than any of us."
"No," Rapunzel whispered. "No! You-you can't! I didn't succeed in getting away! You said if I got away, not if I tried. Maybe you're breaching your own contract!"
Priscilla laughed. "When you're the boss, you can change the rules at will."
She gasped. "You planned on killing him all along!"
"You're smarter than you seem," Priscilla chortled. "We could care less about your kids. But you and Eugene, however...you've both caused a lot of grief. Don't worry; they promised to do it quickly for Eugene. You, however..." she smiled and patted Rapunzel's head just like Gothel always had. She then unchained her right hand and left, leaving her slightly more free but still hopelessly captive and frustrated.
"Wait!" Rapunzel called before she set the tile back down. "Do you want to know what Gothel was like? What your ancestors missed out on?"
She paused and Rapunzel saw her cold eyes even through the darkness.
Rapunzel thought for a few moments and gathered her thoughts. "She gave me everything I wanted except for freedom. She fed me, clothed me, and was my parent. She hit me if I asked a question or took my books away if I started getting too curious about things. She killed Eugene and she double-crossed the Stabbingtons."
Priscilla stared at her pensively for a moment, but then her face hardened and she slammed the tile closed above the princess' head.

History did repeat itself.
She was the lost princess.
The Stabbingtons were on a mission to kill Eugene.
Their kids would be orphans.

She slid to her side and wept, her tears intermingling with blood from her injured cheek.


The very same morning proceeding Rapunzel's attempted escape, he awoke to a pillow pressing into his face, cutting off his air.
Immediately, muscle memory kicked in and he started pumping his legs - see, this is why I never sleep with heavy blankets - and clawing with his short fingernails. He connected with his knee and then flew upright as soon as he could. The brother who spoke was on guard. The mute, whose vocal chords had been cut out years ago in a terrifically dreadful fight, had been doing the dirty work. Eugene rolled over in bed, grabbed the frying pan from the bedside table and knocked the mute out before he could even collect himself. He'd never understood why his wife insisted on keeping a frying pan in their room...until two long strides, he met the other brother and clocked him harshly with the pan. It dazed him but didn't knock him out completely, so Eugene finished the job with a sharp punch squarely to the face. He fell with a thud.
Eugene examined his aching knuckles. "Jeez! I knew he was hardheaded, but not literally. Yow!" he shook his throbbing hand and then got to work tying them to two chairs. Finally, he went in search for the guard who'd obviously been slacking.

He was on the floor, alive but unconscious with his sword at his side. When Eugene had confirmed that he was alive, he went outside to get a pail of cold water.

Eugene sloshed it over the brother who spoke.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"How would I know?" he asked dumbly, sneering.
Eugene had absolutely no patience. He grabbed fistfuls of the man's dirty vest, yanking on them roughly. He gave his head a good shaking and then pushed his face into the other man's thick face. "You're not getting out of this. One way or another, you will tell me. Either you can just tell me or I'll rip you limb from limb and claim it self defense. I promise you I will. But either way, you will tell me where my wife is!" he spat.
The Stabbington brother was astounded by Eugene's protective side. He'd only seen it one other time; in the jail when he had begged for details about what had happened to Rapunzel then.
But still, he wouldn't answer; so Eugene grabbed his thick, grimy middle finger and pushed it backwards towards his wrist until the taller man howled in pain. The brothers were notorious for low pain tolerances.
"The tower, the tower!" he choked.
So obvious, Eugene thought. He nodded curtly and went to alert the guards. Two went to retrieve the Stabbingtons and wake the unconscious guard. Two others went with Eugene, and the rest were forced to stay and watch Aisling, Johanna, and Zachary.
Eugene yanked Maximus' cinch tight. The gelding was about twelve years old now, just in his prime. "Rapunzel's in trouble, buddy," he swung up into the saddle and gathered his reins. Max neighed anxiously, pawing the ground and tossing his head. "Show me the definition of haste!"


It was the same morning in which the Stabbingtons had been captured, and Rapunzel was facing a whipping.
Priscilla was furious over her definition of Gothel's parenting skills, deeming her a liar and a waste of space on the planet.
She slid the tile aside, followed by the woman from Al'vae, who carried a harsh leather whip with small stones tied to the tassel of it.
"Why don't you tell me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Priscilla asked, crouching and digging her fingernails into Rapunzel's chin, dragging her up to meet her gaze.
"You won't have a punching bag anymore," she met her gaze evenly and croaked. She hadn't been given water or food since she'd been sent to the stairwell.
Priscilla shook her head. "You're worthless as even that. And you're worthless to your husband. Heck, you probably don't have a husband anymore. They're supposed to come back today, I think, actually. So why even keep you around?"
Rapunzel nodded and then the woman from Al'vae grabbed a handful of hair, dragging Rapunzel to her feet and then pulling back with the whip.